Apotheosis
by neko-rinchan
Summary: Before Ailín lost what defined him, he unknowingly was at state of apotheosis, a perfect example of one at their highest point. To understand what was lost, and to somehow regain it, it takes the meddeling of two assassin groups. A WeissSchwarzOC fic.
1. Prologue Perilous Descent

Disclaimers:  
Refer to the third last paragraph of my pre-story author's note.  
This will be a shonen-ai/yaoi fic, and although I havn't got to the pairings yet, i'm almost sure they will be: BxS, YxA, NxO, KxOC, and Farf gets the blender.  
Because of excessive violence (in my opinion) and foul launguage, not counting the future yaoi-goodness, this fic has an R rating. But I'm doubting that'll stop the younger readers... Either way, you've been warned.  
Sorry, no Weiss 'till the first chapter. Please still read. pouty face  
  
"Primary Speech" Basically the main speech of the area, except for the first half of the prologue, where it's German. ex. In the States, it's English, Japan, japanese, etc. unless otherwise stated at the beginning of the chap.

'Gaelic Irish Speech'

Secondary Speech - any secondary language, ex, in Japan it would be English, but it will be stated at the beginning of the chap

/Thinking, telepathy/ - with telepathy, the telepath can understand the thoughts, no matter the language.

Visions will be described while they happen.

And because Ailín believes it's normal, there is no real distinction for his "knowingness" or how he knows things, except when he actively seeks it out, then it will be described as I see fit.  
  
And for those of you who don't have access to a dictionary, or are just too lazy to look it up, this is the definition of the title:

Apotheosis - elevation to the rank of a God; the highest point of glory, power or importance; the best or most glorious example of something.

APOTHEOSIS  
Prelude: Perilous Descent  
  
'Ailín (1), Ailín! Swee'ling, i' is time t' come home!'  
  
A little boy with fiery-red hair and mismatched eyes of green and blue came running up to a beautiful woman wearing a long dress and apron. Throwing his arms around her, the little boy tilted his head back and asked with big eyes, 'Mothair, why di' ye call me? I wus a-playing...'  
  
The blue haired woman ruffled her son's hair as he struggled against it. 'I's almos' time fer suppair (2), an' I will be needin' the help of a big, strong laddie t' help with the stew. I wus hopin' you could find a laddie fer me...'  
  
Ailín puffed out his little chest and announced in a loud, deep vioce, 'I'ma big, strong laddie. I kin help ye, Mothair!' As Ailín ran off into his two story home, his mother hid a smile as she followed her son.  
  
As Ailín was setting the table, a bigger version of him walked into the kitchen and ruffled his hair. 'Fathair, dinna do tha'! I'ma big laddie!'  
  
The man laughed as he swung his son up into his shoulders. 'Really? If yer such a big laddie, how kin I do this?' Ailín grumbled softly, and resting his chin on his father's head, he pouted. Turning to his wife, he kissed her, and asked when will their supper be ready.  
  
Eoghan (3) smiled, 'Uaine (4), i' wull be ready inna...' and her voice faded away into nothing. Uaine watched in nervous anticipation as Eoghan's eyes dilated until the green of her iris' dissapeared. Her body jerked sudddenly and she clutched at her chest, panting, wide -eyed and unseeing. Uaine pulled Ailín off his shoulders and went to his wife, whose eyes contracted to a normal size. Ailín frowned, not understanding.  
  
Eoghan turned to Ailín and commanded, 'Ailín, run t' the faerie circle (5) next t' the caves, an' stay there 'till yer called.'  
  
Ailín eyed his supper and whined, 'But Mothair, m' suppair! I' 'll ge' cold...' Uaine looked at his son and said softly, 'Lis'en t' yer mam...' Ailín looked up at his parents, looked to his food, sighed softly and ran out the door.  
  
After Aiín had left, Uaine looked at his wife, 'Eoghan, wha' did y' See (6)?' Eoghan whispered softly, 'They're a-comin' fer our Ailín, for his téadóir.(7)' Uaine hugged his wife to him and replied, 'They willna ge' 'im.'

........................................

Ailín slowly sat up and looked around him, rubbing at his sleepy eyes. He was still sitting in the faery circle, and judging by the encroaching darkness, he must have fell asleep and it was now past his dinner time. Idly wondering at what caused him to wake, he slowly stood up and rubbed at his grumbling tummy. His mam told him to stay until called, but he knew that was never going to happen.  
  
Ailín frowned at that thought. His mothair would never forget about him, so why did he know she was never going to call him back home? Scrunching up his face, Ailín began to think hard. Little arms clasped behind his back, he began to pace around the inside perimeter of the circle. He then stopped and looked towards the twilight-streaked sky, unconciously mimicking first his father then mother. Furrowing his brows, he absently rubbed at his chest, where his heart is found.  
  
'Why does me hear' hur'?' he asked to his sourroundings. Snivelling softly, he whispered, 'I wish me mam wus...' His eyes slowly widened to the size of saucers, 'Mam? Daa? MAM! DAA!' Running and screaming for his parents, Ailín knew why his mam or daa weren't going to call him, they wern't alive to do so.

........................................

"Damn, that didn't go well... wonder where the little brat got to?"  
"Doesn't matter where the "little brat" went, he is coming back."  
The man with blonde hair, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and dark indigo jeans turned to the brunette woman who replied to his statement. Grinning, he commented, "I will NEVER envy one with the talent of telepathy, but I will admit, it does have its uses."  
The woman smirked and replied, "It certainly does. Right now it's telling me the kid will be here in less than five minutes, so be ready to grab him and we can leave this Irish mudhole."  
The blonde holstered the gun he was polishing, and cracked his knuckles. "I'm ready!"  
At the sound the woman winced, causing the blonde too laugh and comment. "Something's wroong when you can easily torture and gun down a family" he indicated the dead bodies of Ailín's parents "without batting an eye, but you visibly wince when I crack my knuckles."  
The brunette rolled her eyes, "Shut up, Defender."  
"Make me, Stratedgist."  
Feeling Ailín's confused and tormented thoughts, she signaled her partner and turned towards the kid.  
"A little shrimpy, isn't he? What's his power supposed to be?"  
Stratedgist answered without taking her eyes off the slowly approaching boy who was rambling in Gaelic. "Not sure, he has a mix of clairvoyancy, telepathy and empathy that allows him to "know" things, for lack of a better term."  
Defender whistled slowly, "Wow... no wonder Rosenkreuz sent us to the middle of nowhere to find this kid. Is it passive or aggressive?(8)"  
Stratedgist shrugged, "It's too early to tell whether it can be trained to become aggressive, if it can become that at all."  
They both heard the kid gasp and wail in Gaelic, the only words they recognised were "Fathair" and "Mothair".  
Defender laughed softly, "I'm guessing he knows they're dead."  
Stratedgist smirked, "And he knows that we did it. He's furious, you can practicaly feel the fury rolling off of him (9). It's cute... "  
  
/Hey, kid. So you know it was us; what you should also know is that you're going to be coming with us. There's no point in fighting, we're too strong./  
/How are ye speakin' in me head?/  
/Humph. The same way your mother could "See" and your father could "Feel". You're just like us, and that's why you are going to come with us./  
/NEVER! I'm no' like ye! I dinna kill people!/  
Stratedgist laughed over the link. /Right now you might not kill people, but you will. I guarantee it./  
Ailín clenched his fists and began to tremble with rage. /Why did y' kill me Mam and Daa?/  
Stratedgist smiled sweetly, /Because they wouldn't let us take you. They died trying to stop us. do you know what that makes them?/  
/Uasal./  
Stratedgist shook her head. /No, that doesn't make them noble. It makes them stupid, and that's why they were kiled because the ignorant deserve to die./  
Ailín snarled at the woman, and thought softly. /Which one o' ye kille' me Mam, and' who kille' me Daa?/  
Stratedgist smirked. /He kille' yer Daa, an' I... I kille' yer Mam./  
Ailín looked the witch in the eye. /Thank ye./  
  
"What's going on?"  
Stratedgist shook her head, "Nothing. Just tormenting the kid a bit, told him who killed his parents."  
Defender raised a brow. "Are you sure that's wise?"  
Stratedgist smirked then shrugged. "What's he going to do about it?"  
  
During their little discussion, Ailín's anger and fury increased until it could not be contained. When it reached this point it felt like something turned on in Ailín's mind, and whatever that something was he felt it channel its way from his mind and to his hands, and in doing so, it burned a streak of white into his fiery-red hair (10). Whatever it was caused his blood to boil a hundred fold greater than his anger, and this burning concentrated in the cleched palms of his hands. Without opening his hands, or even looking at them, Ailín knew what it was. It was fire and his téadóir was the ability to create, control and channel it. He also knew that the witch who was speaking in his mind didn't know about it. Ailín looked the witch in the eye. /Thank ye./  
  
Ailín watched the man speak and felt the fire increase its burn in his hands, allowing it to grow and increase in power. As the woman was replying, Ailín knew that the fire would never hurt him. He was a part of it and it a part of him. When the man spoke again, Ailín surrendered himself to the fires growing in his hands. When his arms began to rise and and his hands began to open, it was as if he was a stranger watching somebody else. When the woman spoke again, he watched his arms straighten until they were parallel and his hands were fully open until his finger were splayed wide and his thumb and index fingers were touching. He closed his eyes and felt the fire leave his body.  
  
When he heard an agony induced scream, and smelled the nausea inducing scent of roasting flesh, he slowly opened his eyes. It felt like he was in a dream, his movements legarthic and slow. He closed his fists and the twin streams of fire were cut off. The screaming stopped and the still burning body collapsed to the ground. Ailín knew the fire would stop burning once it burned up all the fuel, or if he brought it back into his body. He would rather the witch burn into nothing, so not even her ashes would pollute with their evil.  
  
"Strategist? STRATEDGIST!! STRATEDGIST!!! BRIANNA!!!!" Defender began to babble in Broken German as he watched the fire engulf Brianna. He tried to help her smother it, but the intense heat of the flames kept him away, and he watched in horror as her skin was blackened and burned away, to leave the bone visible in areas. He cried out when she crumpled dead onto the stone pathway outside the Aodhan (11) family home and moaned when they insatiable flames continued to devour her body. Terrified, he backed away from the macabre scene and into the house whose inhabitants he murdured only an hour earlier.  
  
Coming out of his trance-like state, Ailín turned away from the flames that completly consumed and destroyed the witch who killed his Mam; and saw the one who killed his Daa. Watching the man stumble backwards, away in fear, Ailín slowly followed him. The man continued to babble away in German, and Ailín knew he was pleading for his life. He frowned softly. This man dared to kill his father, who did not plead for himself, even when the gun was held against his forehead and fired, this man wanted Ailín to spare his life? Ailín frowned and slowly began to bring his arms back up until he felt a resistance. Some force was holding him immobile, and he knew it was somehow caused by the trembling man standing in front of him. Angred, Ailín narrowed his eyes at the man, and licks of flame began to appear on the wooden floorboards.  
  
The man who killed his father whimpered in fear, as the flames began to writhe and dance towards him. He backed away from the fire until he bumped into the far corner of the room, and cried out when he realized that he was trapped. The flames of fire creeped towards the man, and when he tried to stomp one of them out, the fire caught on his pant cuff and began to lick up his leg. That one flame followed by many more. Ailín watched the fire seal the man's fate.  
  
Just before the man died, Ailín said softly, 'The Wi'ch wus wron' aboo' me paren's. Bu' she wus righ' aboo' me. She wus righ' abou' me killin' people.'

---------- ----------- ---------- ---------- ----------

An adult Ailín jerked up in bed, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, panting heavily, eyes wide and wild. His breathing starting to slow, Ailín raked a hand through his hair. He rubbed his eyes, and then his temples, thinking.  
/Why ahm I rememberin' this knowh (12)? Wha' dooes this rep'resen'?/  
Rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth, Ailín then scraped back his bangs. throwing the heavy covers away from his body, he lurched out of bed, as if drunk, and padded naked to the window. Leaning against it, he looked out into the LA night sky.  
  
/Hmm. Even this far away from the city, the moon and stars natural brightness is dulled by the artificial one of the city./ Twirling one finger around the lock of white hair, Ailín closed his eyes and opened his mind like his Uncle Aidan taught him. Smiling softly, he remembered the first time he met his Uncle and how he looked nothing like his father. The smile slowly melted away when Ailín thought about the circumstances that caused his emmigration to the States and his Uncle adopting him.  
/What does that dream, that memory of my parents's death signify?/ Ailín rubbed his right palm over his aching heart. /And why do I keep coming back to Uncle Aidan.../ Ailín jerked suddenly, moaned out, "Oh GOD" and slowly slid to the hardwood floor.  
Ailín knew what caused him to dream of his parents' death, why his thoughts kept returning to his Uncle and why there was a painful ache in his chest, as if something was ripped out to never be replaced. The same thing happened that eve in the faerie circle all those years ago in Ireland. His Uncle's life was stolen, was snuffed out too soon by an unnatural cause.  
  
Slumped, naked on the floor, Ailín alowed himself a quick period of greiving, of rememberance towards his Uncle. And when the painful ache in his chest lessened to a dull throb, he slowly stood up and walked towards his closet. Quickly dressing in dark clothes, he tied back his long hair and travelled down the stairs of his darkened house and into the main living room. He grabed the glass case displaying the early 17th century, Toledo Steel rapier and matching dagger and smashed the glass casing against the coffee table. Picking up the rapier from the shards of broken glass, he drew the blade to reveal the first three inches after the hilt. The pale moonlight glinted off the razor sharp blade and the reflected light caused Ailín's eyes to glint dangerously.  
  
'Ye were righ' Unc'l. Aye hav' found ah use fer this.'

..................................................   
  
Ailín stood across from a darkened highrise, a long, black jacket hiding the blade strapped to his right hip (13). By opening his mind (14), he was able to trace his Uncle's murderer to this building. And murderer he was, because with his knowingness, he knew that his Uncle wasn't just killed, he was assassinated. And like eight years ago when his parents were assassinated, he will once again kill the killer. But this time, he won't use his fire because it draws too much attention, what with the fire alarms and all.  
Ailín slowly breathed out and calmed himself. In order to find the exact man who stole his Uncle's life he musn't get excited. After eight years of training, he knew that if he was not focused while using his téodóir, the results could become contaminated by his own self.  
He closed his eyes, and opened his mind and focused on his Uncle's murder. And he watched it unfold in his head, as if in rewind. He watched as the pooling blood drew back into his Uncle's body, watched the body rise off th efloor, untwist and face forward. He watched the bullets leave his Uncle's body, the spatter going back in and the wounds closing. He watched the bullets travel back into the gun, heard three consecutive GNAB's , saw the murderer's hand lurch forward three times as he released then pressed te trigger, and watched as the gun shot residue was sucked back into the gun.(15) Ailín opened his eyes and breathed slowly, closing off his mind. He knew who the killer was.  
Ailín looked at his watch. 4:30 am, one hour and five minutes until sunrise. If he wanted to escape under the cloak of darkness, he had better act fast.

.................................................   
  
Ailín looked undetected at the man who stole his Uncle's life. He didn't look like the two assassins from eight years earlier, and he didn't feel like them either (16). It was as if he was less than them in some way, as if he was missing something they had.  
Ailín shrugged it off. /It's not like it is going to matter in the long run, I know he's going to die. It probably stems from how easy it was for me to get in here./  
  
Ailín quietly shrugged off his jacket, and silently slid the lethal blade out of its sheath. He silently padded forward, waves of stealth stealth rolling off his body, and stopped directly behind the assassin. Ailín's body was angled so that only his left side was showing, left hand holding the hilt with the blade tilted back, the tip held in the right hand, "Boo."  
The assassinn jumped, pulled his gun and spun around, but before he could fire it, Ailín released the tip of the blade and swund his left arm acros and then down. The dead body of the asaassin slumped lifelessly to the ground, the decapitated head stopping it's roll three feet away.  
  
Crouching down, he wiped the blood from the blade onto the dead man's shirt. Once clean he rose, and still facing the corpse, explained, "It's ignoble to attack an enemy unawares and from behind."  
Ailín heard a gun being cocked and knew it was pointed at the back of his head. "Luckily for me, I have no gallant notions of honor. Put down the weapon and turn around, slowly."  
Ailín held his arms wide and slowly placed the blade on the tiled and stained floor. He turned around and kicked the blade, causing it to go skittering towards the man withe the gun.  
The man looked slightly suprised, at a loss for words. Ailín shruged, "I knew you were going to ask me to do that."  
"Oh, and what else do you know?"  
Ailín closed his eyes and slowly breathed out. Opening them a few seconds later, he replied. "I know your name is Julius Strope. You're 37 and one of the rare few in LA who are a natural blonde AND has no plastic surgery. You own a very profitable hotel chain, but run an even more prosperous organisation where for the right price, any problem can be taken care of. Your codename/title in this organisation is The First, and you were very annoyed when that was the same name used for the Big Bad on the last season of Buffy the Vam..."  
"Stop, stop." Strope commanded, waving his gun. "I don't know whether to be amused, or..."  
"You are. You are amused."  
Strope raised a brow. "How do you know?"  
Ailín shruged, "I just... know."  
"What else do you know?"  
"You want to know how I got into the building so easily, why I killed one of your assassins, if I am also targeting you..."  
"Is that all?"  
"No, but you are quickly growing bored of the situation."  
"Hmm... " Strope perched on the corner of his desk, and let the gun dangle by his side. "How do you do that?" At Ailín's blank expression, he elaborated. "How do you know things? What I'm going to say, what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling?"  
"I'm assuming the same way everybody does, Mr. Strope, by opening my mind to all the different possiblities, and focusing on a specific one. Although, it is substantially easier if I can make some sort of physical contact."  
""Physical Contact?"  
"Yes... if I wanted to know someting about this building, an event that happened or might happen here, or even something about one of the peole who worked/work here, it's a lot easier for me to know that something by having a physical link to start from.  
Ailín tilted his head slightly, "You still want to know why I killed him." At Strope's nod, Ailín continued. "He killed my Uncle, I was merely repaying the favor. And once I killed him, I planned to leave as silently as I came."  
"Why just him? Shouldn't you want to kill me as well? What if I ordered the death of your Uncle."  
Ailín sighed. "If I used that reasoning, I would have to kill every superior that man reported to, every organisation that funded him, even his parents that gave him life. I'm merely content to settle for taking the life of the one who took the life of my Uncle."  
"Kill the killer."  
"Exactly."  
"You have killed before."  
"Yes, I killed the ones who took the lives of my parents."  
"How old were you?"  
"I was ten."  
"How would you feel about working for The First?"  
"Problem solving?" Alaín asked sarcastically.  
"It's not as if you havn't killed before."  
"Yes, but my hands are merely stained with the blood of those who have wronged my family."  
"But if you join this organisation, it will become your family."  
Ailín pursed his lips slightly (17), thinking about it.  
"Ah, I knew you looked familiar." Ailín looked up at Strope as he walked towards him, saying "You're Ailín Aodhan, the international model. I should have recognised you, even without the white streak... Either way, this is fate, destined to be. You being an international model gives you the perfect excuse to travel to where your services are needed. I can even buy out your agency to better co-ordinate your missions. And besides, who would ever suspect a model of being an assassin?"  
"Or an assassin being a model?"  
Strope held out his right hand, and asked, "Are you interested in joining my family?"  
Ailín shookStrope's hand, "I currently have nothing better to do."

* * *

Author's notes: 1) Ailín - pronounced "ay-LEEN", if you care... meaning of his name will be given later 2) With trying to fake an Irish brogue, lunch is called supper and dinner is dinner. 3) Ailín's mom, pronounced "oh-GAHN, mean's God's gracious gift 4) Ailín's dad, pronounced "ONN-yuh", means young warrior 5) Faerie circles were noticable rings in grass that were supposedly gates into the faerie realm. In my other stories (not posted yet) I explained that Talents are the "diluted descendants" of "demons of the dark" and their Talent is a "throwback" to their demon heritage. And because I classify Faeries as "demons of the light", the "light" from the faery circle negates the "dark" of the Talent being used, and this prevents Ailín's detection. Eoghan doesn't know this, but she does know (thanks to her clairvoyancy) that the faery circle will prevent the detection of her son. 6) See - his mom is clairvoyant, and in Ireland they're known as Seers, and when she has a vision, she Sees 7) Téadóir - pronounced "TEH-dohr", means divine gift; and it's Ailín's family's way of saying they're "Talents" (their various Talents are a gift from God) 8) Is it passive or aggressive - passive is when it just comes to you and aggressive is when you have to "work" for it 9) When emotions roll off of Ailín, he's broadcasting his empathy (not only can he feel other's emotions, it's possible that he can make other people feel his current emotion and possibly hinder then. 10) He gotthe streak of white when his powers became active. Basically brands him as a pyrokinetic, the thickness of the streak indicating the strength (Rosenkreuz is unaware of this phenomena) His Dad was a low level pyro (wasn't able to use it because of Defender's telekinesis), his streak simply looked like a few grey hairs, but Ailín has a thicker streak 'cause he's a higher level. 11)Aodhan - pronounced EH-dawn, meaning will be found out later. 12)The brogue accent - Whenever Ailín get highly emotional, agitated, pissed off, etc, the brogue "leeks" into his speech. There will be more on this in later chapters. 13)This makes him a left handed sword fighter. The only part of me inserted into this story: I'm more comfortable fighting left foot forward, so all my characters are too. 14)Basically how Ailín aggressively uses his powers. Shown in detail a few paragraphs down. 15)The rewind scene of Aidan's murder - Just some lovely imagery and knowledge that I've picked up from watching CSI (Las Vegas, NOT Miami... ) 16)Ailín's knowingness kicking in (telepathy/empathy) - he basically feels how the assasin who killed his Uncle is Talentless (FYI, the Uncle does have a Talent, Empathy with a little telepathy... which explains Ailín's Talent excess, his entire family had them, and all those differing Talent genes were passed down and are active in Ailín. -- little Biology factoid, because the Y chromosome of a male is basically useless, whatever gene is present in the X will be an active gene; why it's more common for guys to be color blind, they lack the back-up genes on the second X chromosome which is present im females. And if it works in real life, it definately works in fiction.) 17) You always see models posing with pouty lips, and it's Ailín's pouty lips that cause Strope to recognise him.  
  
Final General Notes: If you're wondering WHY Ailín's dream had bits of it where he wasn't there, it's cause he's "receptive" to empathy/telepathy stuff. That' what Eoghan meant when Ailín shouldn't leave the circle until called, Ailín's telepathy is receptive towards people, especially his parents. On a similar note, it still works when he's unconscious; he's still receptive but it gets processed into his subconcious mind,so it isn't all that useful. And the reason why the deaths of his parents, and his Uncle woke him up, and the pain that he felt, that stems from the telepathy/empathy. The telepathic breaking (by death) of the "connection" he feels towards people he's close to is what wakes him up (a sudden mental pain would wake most people) and the pain in his chest is an intensified feeling of loss created by his empathy.  
  
Soo, yeah... I hope you have enjoyed the prologue, and if you have actually read this far, I commend you. In the future the author notes shouldn't be as long, it will just be long for the first few chapters until the new character, Ailín is explained (so his char is understood) or until I grow bored of the author notes... which ever comes first.  
  
If you have any questions, ask and they shall be explained, 'cause sometimes when it makes sense in the head, it doesn't on paper. And I promise, Weiss and Schwarz will be in the next chapters. As a matter of fact, Weiss will be the first thing in the next chapter, they shall be the focus and Ailín will be more secondary... And if this doesn't make any sense, it is know 3:52 am and I still need to load to ffn.net... and my right shoulder hurts from too much typing... 


	2. Chapter 1 Inchoate Machinations

Disclaimers:  
I don't even own a copy of the show, so what would make you think I own the copyright?  
Rated R for language, violence, and future yaoi-goodness.  
"Japanese Speech"  
'Gaelic Speech'  
English Speech  
/Telekinesis, Thoughts/  
For Japanese names, they'll be the "proper way" (last name first, etc), and same with the English names (first name first). Not being Japanese, when Ailín uses Japanese honorifics, they are more of an afterthought, 'cause they seem unnatural to him, and there will also be jokes about them later on. ;) Also, I will only drop the random German word into Schu's speech (because, the characters are already technically talking in Japanese, so dropping Japanese words seems redundant. The only Japanese words will be the honorifics, 'cause they don't have an equivalent translation.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to halfling-rogue, the jerk-face who left for a month in Toronto and didn't properly inform me (all I got was a group email... sniff, sniff, so unloved...)  
  
APOTHEOSIS:  
Chapter One: Inchoate Machinations  
  
Tokyo, Japan at the Koneko no Sumu-Ie  
  
With a tired sigh, Kudou Yohji herded the last of the "fan girls" out of the flower shop. Looking around to make sure none of the girls weren't hiding in a darkened corner to come out later and molester them all in their sleep, he reached up and pulled down the metal grate. Leaving it unlocked because he still needed to bring in the flower displays, he turned to Omi.  
"Hey, Omittchi!"  
Omi looked up from tallying up the day's sales, "Yes, Yohji-kun?"  
"How many more days are left of this... this nightmare?"  
"My, God! This is cetainly a momentous occasion! "  
Yohji narrowed his eyes slightly at Ken, "Oh? And why is that?"  
"Because the flirt of Weiss has lost interest in women."  
"Hey! I AM interested in women, but these... girls are freakin' abnormal!"  
Stopping the fight before it could escalate any further, Omi answered Yohji's earlier question. "There's about 29 more days left. Sorry, Yohji- kun."  
Yohji left out a whiny groan, and slumped on the floor, his back causing the gate to shake. Ken, spared from the day in the shop looked from the weary, and melodramatic Yohji to the droopy Omi. Curious, he asked, "29 more days of what?"  
From his position on the floor, Yohji sighed out, "Summer vacation."  
Looking down at Yohji, Ken said, "It couldn't have been that bad. Stop over reacting."  
Yohj tilted his head up at Ken and replied, "You had to have been here to understand how bad it got. If Aya was here, I'm positive he would have chased out all the girls with his katana." Seeing Ken's unbelieving look, Yohji took a different appproach.  
"Think of it this way, Kenken. You know how bad it gets when those high school girls come in here in their free time before class?" Ken nodded.  
"And you know the only way we survive those periods is because we know the girls will eventually have to leave for class, giving us a much needed break?" Ken nodded again.  
"Well, they don't have class to go to because it's summer vacation so they don't have to leave the shop. That allows the girls to hang aroung the shop from open to close. And they will be doing the exact same thing for the next twenty-nine days. That is why it's a nightmare."  
Ken's eyes practically bugged out of his head, and he slumped down onto the floor. "Oh God, that's like cruel and unusual punishment..."  
"It's not that bad," Omi offered from the counter where he was working, "besides, it's good for business. Speaking of which, Yohji-kun, can you please bring those displays in?"  
Yohji whined out, "But Omittchi, I'm exhausted! I can barely stand!"  
Rolling his eyes, Ken got up to do it. Seeing that Ken was going to finish his work for him, Yohji bounced up and announced he was going out for a smoke. Opening the gate, Ken paused, his hand still on it. "I thought you were too exhausted to even stand."  
Yohji grinned, "Smoking revitalizes me!"  
As Yohji walked out of the room and into the back, Ken shook his head. /There are sooo many things wrong with that statement./

The next day at the Koneko, a very bored Ken was sitting on a stool in behind the cashier counter. Huffing out a bored sigh, he rested his chin on his folded arms and looked around the empty shop.  
/I thought Yohji said that it was going to be super busy today, but it's totally dead. I'm sooo bored... it feels like this day is never going to end. (1) ...Yohji and Omi were the smart ones, taking off when they realized how slow today was going to be. At least Omi was nice about it, and he did have his reasons... His summer break shouldn't have to involve schoolwork (2), what's the point in a vacation if you have to do work? But, Yhoji! Simply announcing that he was leaving 'cause he wasn't needed here, and then taking off! I'm suprised Aya-kun didn't say anything about that.../  
Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Ken paused in his musings and looked up to find Aya gah-laring at him. Frowning slightly, "What?"  
Aya glared harder. "Would you please stop drumming your feet against the counter."  
Ken shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry, Aya-kun." Aya turned back around and continued working on his flower arrangment. Looking up at the wall clock, Ken silently cheered at how they were going to be closing in twenty minutes, but then cursed. /Dammit, I'm positive that the second hand is now moving backwards!/  
Ken looked back towards Aya, and then slowly moved his way to the doorway of the shop. Looking up and down the street and seeing nobody in sight, he turned back to Aya. "Hey, Aya-kun."  
Aya turned and gave Ken an annoyed look for bothering him.  
Bolstering his courage in face of an annoyed and possibly cranky Aya, Ken continued. "Aya, the shop has been basically empty ALL day, and there doesn't seem to be any possible customers walking around outside. Seeing how there is only twenty minutes left 'till closing, couldn't we close early? And even if there are telephone orders, we will be offically closed before they can be delivered." Ken paused, hoping for Aya's approval.  
Aya simply Hn-ed and turned back to finish his arrangement. Interpreting Aya's grunt as "Of course we'll close early Ken, my you're smart" Ken began bringing inside all their displays. That done, he closed the metal grate and began sweeping the floor, and generally cleaning up.  
Crouching down to lock the gate, he heard the rhythmic clicking of high heels on the pavement. Peeking out through the bottom of the gate, he was greeted with the sigh of high heels worn with socks. Only knowing one person stupi... ah, different enough to do so, he lifted the gate. "Manx."The members of Weiss were all gathered and sitting in the basement/mission room waiting for Manx to describe the next mission. Still pouting at how Manx's appearance caused the abrupt cancellation of his day off, Yohji forgoed his habitual flirtation.  
Ignoring Balinese, Manx passed over a folder of information to Bombay and began speaking.  
"This mission is more of an information gathering one..."  
Interupting her (3), Yohji remarked, "Why do you need to gather us all for Bombay to research? You never had to before..."  
Refraining from rolling her eyes at Yohji's flippant attitude, Manx continued, "The reason is because you will need to do field research. What Kritiker needs to find out will not be found out via computer data, but can only be found by catching the perpetrator in the act."  
At this, Yohji perked up. It looks like his PI skills will be coming in handy. "Who do you want us to research, and why?"  
Manx noded at Omi to open up the folder, and the pictures were passed around from Weiss to Weiss. Picking up one glossy page, Yohji idly remarked, "This looks like it was taken from a magazine."  
Manx smiled slightly, "It was."  
"Hey! I know this person!" Yohji blinked as the page was snached from his hand. "Kenken?"  
"This is that male model/idol, Ailín!"  
"Oh-hoh? And Ken, how exactly do you know this? You're not the type to read that kind of magazine, are you?"  
Ken started to blush slightly at Yohji's teasing. If Yohji found out he simply bought those frivolous fashion/star watching magazines simply to collect pictures of Ailín (4), he would never hear the end of it.  
Manx frowned, "Balinese, this is serious."  
Yohji waved his hand indicating the other photos and several documents. "What's the point in Kritiker having us watch a model/idol? If someone in Kritiker wants to meet this Ay-LEEN guy sooo badly, why don't they just talk to the guy who runs his agency? Pull some strings, if you will."  
Omi replied softly, "Because his agency was bought out two years ago by the suspected leader of a possible assassination guild."  
Ken blinked, Yohji looked at Manx. "What, exactly, does Kritiker supect this guy of?"  
Manx handed Yohji a paper with two pictures printed next to each other on it. One was obviously copy and pasted from some advertisement, but the other, looked as if it were taken from a video surveillance cam. A hat was covering the hair and sunglasses were covering the eyes, but just by loking at it, Yohji had to agree that there was a definate resemblance.  
"That picture was taken in the building where the police found the dead body of an influential American businessman, 10 minutes after the estimated time of death."  
Yohji looked up at Manx. "You can not be serious."  
"It says here, that assassinations frequently occur in the same areas, cities, neighbouring cities, where ever Ailín does modeling work."  
"And guess when this occurence started? Two years ago when his agency changed owners." Manx further supplied.  
"A model where death follows in his wake." Aya mused to no one in particular.  
"A model who is an assassin?" Yohji asked sarcastically.  
"Is it any more disbelievable as an assassin who is a florist?"  
Yohji frowned, Manx had him there.  
"Siberian, you have been exceedingly quiet. What are your thoughts on this?"  
Ken looked up, wide eyed and startled. "Uhmm... It... it seems to be too big of a coincidence to simply ignore..." However, Ken was adamantly denying it in his mind. Ailín was a pillar of goodness and light, in an otherwise dark and dreary world. The man is an idol! And idols simply don't kill people.  
"And those circumstances are why Kritiker is interested in researching Ailín Aodhan. Basically, we want you to find out whatever you can on Ailín. His past, likes, dislikes, what's important to him, any kind of information that can be used as leverage. But we especially want confirmation on whether or not he is a assassin and who he works for."  
"And if we do find out he is an assassin? Do you want us to target him?"  
Ken felt the air catch in his throat at Yohji's casual question about them killing Ailín. He bit his lip at the turmoil those seven words caused him.  
"No." Ken sighed in relief at Manx's denial. "Kritiker wants to recruit him..." Ken's gasp was covered by Yohji's protestations. Ignoring Yohji, Manx continued, "Ailín may just be what Kritiker, and Weiss need in order to finally eliminate Schwarz."  
Omi flinched slightly at that declaration, but went unnoticed by the other occupants in the room.  
"What can be so important about a simple assassin when compared to the powers of Schwarz?"(5)  
Manx looked at Abysinian, "The fact that he has alluded capture and positive detection connotes that he is far from simple. It is almost as if it is unnatural.(6)"  
"Are you implying that Ailín is a physic model-assassin?" Yohji asked incredulously.  
"Anything is possible." And with that illuminating statement, Manx began to describe, indepth, the known schedule for Ailín. " He will be spending the next six months in Japan, and will be spending that time in a combination of working and vacationing. There are several known photoshoots he will be participating in, along with numerous others that Bombay should easily find out. He will also be doing some work in Mulan, modelling for shows, and also because of his popularity, there will be autograph sessions scheduled. And during his vacation time, that is when Kritiker believes he will take on his assassin role."  
Looking up from his notes, Omi asked, "When is he arriving in Japan?"  
"He already arrived today at 12:30 pm, at the Tokyo International Airport. We have received several reports on how bad it got because of his popularity. The airport security was overwhelmed and the receiving area was so crowded by fans, there was hardly any room to move."  
Yohji laughed, "Well, I guess that explains why the Koneko was so empty. Our fangirls abandoned us for him."  
Ken laughed with Yohji and Omi, but inwardly thought, /I could have been in the same airport as Ailín!?!?! Someone up there really doesn't like me!/Across town in an infinitely nicer and more expensive apartmet building, a weary man with wild orange hair was leaning against the wall of the elevator. Getting off at the top floor, he slowly shuffled towards his apartment door, a small grimace marring his face. Inserting his key into the lock, he carefully opened the door and quietly closed it behind him.  
Wincing noticably at the grating sound of a blender crushing ice, he yelled out to be heard over the noise. "Farf! Will you turn that thing off!?!"  
At the albino's compliance, the man slowly shuffled forward, rubbing at his temples to help alleviate the pain in his head.  
Hearing Schuldig nicely yellling to Farf, Nagi left his room to investigate and found a sight that unnerved him slightly. Schuldig was sitting in the armchair, leaning forwards onto the coffee table resting his head in his arms; orange hair spilling rather aesthetically all around him.  
"Schu?" Nagi asked tentively.  
The albino, derived of his blender stalked out of the kitchen and into the main sitting area, and sat cross legged on he floor across from Schu. He folded his arms on the table, and resting his chin on them, stared unblinking at Schu with one golden eye.  
Ignoring the strange actions of the Albino, a muffled response emanated from Schu. "Tylenol."  
Sitting down on the couch, Nagi levitated a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water towards Schu. Groaning softly at the increased pain of his headache caused by the change in elevation, Schu grabbed the bottle of pills out of the air. Snapping off the lid, he poured out a handful and popped them into his mouth. Taking a swig of the water, he tilted his head back and swallowed the pills.  
Feeling Nagi glare at him, Schuldig shrugged. "It's takes more than two of these pills for them to be effective."  
"Schuldig! Those are extra strength pills! You can overdose and die on that amount you took!"  
Amused that he got such an emotional response from the telekinetic, Schuldig smirked. "Aww, Naggles. You do care." Deciding not to press his luck with the kid, esepcially when his head hurt too much to get into any sort of fight, verbal or otherwise, Schuldig shrugged. "It's really not that big a deal. I've become resistant to lower doses of painkillers; frequent headaches when I was younger."  
Realising that Schuldig's pain was caused by his Talent, Nagi was a mix of sympathy and suspicion.  
His headache lessening, Schu smirked even more. "Don't be suspicious chibi, I only did what Braddy-kins told me to do. Why, you should be pleased that I followed his orders."  
Nagi gave him a Look. "Did you follow them exactly?" At Schuldig's grin, Nagi instantly knew that wasn't the case. The three assassins sat there in silence, waiting for Schu to continue with his story.  
Grinning mentally at Nagi's increasing impatience, Schu feigned an innocent look. "O-h-h-h. You want me to tell you now! You really should of said something sooner!"  
Not fooled, Nagi continued to Look at Schuldig. Schuldig waved his hand in a gesture of defeat, and leaning back comfortably in his chair, propped his still shod feet up on the coffee table.  
Looking with htinly veiled disgust at Schuldig's feet on the coffee table, he was about to comment on it when Schuldig spoke first. "Y'know, if you interupt me, I would probably feel as if you didn't want to hear my story. And then, feeling totally unloved, unappreciated, et cetera, I probably wouldn't tell you."  
Biting back his annoyance, Nagi waited for Schuldig to continue. Besides, he could always scold the telepath later.  
Ignoring that last thought, Schuldig began to explain. "This morning, Braddy-boy had a vision that wsa not quite a vision. All he saw was some American foreigner who was arriving in Japan today at the Tokyo International Airport. But he didn't see anything "surrounding" the guy, no reason as to why he had the vision, nothing. Just a vision of the guy getting off the plane. Intrigued, ol' Crawfish sent me, after the necessary teasing about the only reason he's interested is that he missed his countrymen." At this point in the story, Nagi rolled his eyes at Schuldig's childish antics.  
Ignoring the movement of Nagi's eyes, Schuldig continued. "So, I eventually get to the airport and to the terminal where Crawly saw the American walking out, and guess what I found? A horde of screaming fangirls. If that wasn't bad enough, what with being unalbe to totally sheild out their thoughts, and having to listen to their fantasies, a lot of them sexual, surrounding this guy; what was worse was the fact that the place was packed, totally crowded. It gave a new definition to exceeding the safe number of people allowed by the fire marshall. So, in order to get close enough, I actually had to touch those fangirls..." at this point Schuldig paused to shudder, "... because there was no way I would have been heard in their minds because their licentious thoughts. I mean, some of those things are not physically possible. Anyways, I eventually make it to the front of the crowd to see the guy, and the weirdest thing happened. A sense of calm came over me; that, and the guy had shields, but not the normal kind. Our sheilds are like a wall surrounding our private thoughts. But for this guy, his mind was simply closed off. Kind of like a windowless room with a door that can only be opened from the inside, with this room at the bottom of a crystal clear lake. When I tired to pry into his mind, the lake began to ripple, distorting the image of the room, making it harder to see and then find. And the guy felt the ripples, causing him to freeze his "mind-lake", further preventing access to the room at the bottom of the lake."  
"Wow... that is definatly not the type of sheild taught by Rosenkreuz... Where did he learn to shield like that, but the better question is why does he need to sheild like that?"  
Schuldig shrugged, "That's probalby why Brad-lee had the vison. There's more to this guy than what he presents to the world."  
Nagi pondered slowly, then looked up at Schuldig. "Is it possible that his guy may be a Talent?"  
Schuldig scoffed. "All Talents are detected and taken by Rosenkreuz. If he was a Talent, he would have been taken like everyone else."  
Nagi "hmmm-ed". "Is it possible for a Talent to evade detection, and if not, at least evade capture?"  
Schuldig shrugged, "The few cases of that I've heard about resulted in the deaths of the Talent and the "recruiters". Either way, it's Crawford's problem now."  
Looking at te hsilent Irishman, Schuldig asked, "Hey, Farfie. What do you think about this?"  
The Irishman loked up at the German who interupted him from his thoughts. Slowly blinking his sole golden eye, Farf smiled errily and said, "The noble fire will burn a path of death and destruction across Japan (7). Not even the tears of God will be able to stop it."  
Schuldig slowly raised his eyebrows at the mad Irishman. Smiling and nodding, he sent to Nagi, /I guess his moment of lucidity has passed.../  
Rolling his eyes, Nagi replied, /Whatever gave you that idea?/  
Schu smirked and said out loud, "When the Crawfish gets back from his office, I'll take th physco out. Won't that be fun, Farf?"  
Farf's smile widened and a dangerous gleam lit his eye, "I want to see them burn."Author's Notes... or anecdotes:  
1) This is how I feel when working, as long as I'm busy the day passes very quickly, but when I have nothing to do it simply drags on.  
2) Yeah, in Japan, schools only have ONE month of summer vacation, and are given work to do as well (unlike Canada and the States, their schol year does not start after sumer but in the Spring)... and I learnt about this from CCS.  
3) Because I havn't actually watched the show (all my Weiss info is gleaned from other fics), and Manx appears minimally in fanfics, I don't know her character and don't if theWeiss boys would interupt her during a mission briefing.  
4) Yes! Ken is a fanboy of Ailín's model-y goodness! Hmm, I wonder why? Anyways, I actually have a friend who does this, buy magazines just for articles and pictures of his fav star: Sarah Michelle Gellar.  
5) Yes, yes, I know Aya is the king of one word answers. But let's just pretend that he talks more in mission-mode, because he's all serious and needs to voice his opinions to improve on the success of the missions.  
6) Ohh, can we say dramatic irony? And yay for Kritiker in suspecting Ailín of his téodóir, or Talent... cause it's not as if they can question Ailín's parents or Uncle about it... Them being dead and all.  
7) A recurring way of describing Farf is that he's clever, but that he just can't decide whether he wants to be sane or crazy. This is a line of foreshadowing brought on by Farfie's cleverness, and it's importance/meaning will be further understood in the later chapters... probably the next one...  
  
I just need to write about my new revelation. Schuldig is exactly like Xelloss from Slayers (but I'd prefer a sadistic telepathic human to an immortal who stems from a race of evil). If you've seen Slayers hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about...  
  
Thank you for reading chapter one of Apotheosis, and hopefully you liked it enough to continue on reading all of the future chapters. And as you noticed (hopefully) in this chapter, although the story is about Ailín, the emphasis is placed more on the happeings of Weiss and Schwarz, and their encounters with Ailín; instead of just "following" Ailín around, reading about him killing people and his frequent/infrequent meethings with Weiss and Schwarz. But this will be changing in the later chapters, when Ailín gets "woven" closer and more tightly to the two groups.  
  
If you have any comments, questions, whatever, leave them and I'll be happy to read and reply to them. And flames, I'll simply laugh at them and email the "better ones" to all my friends. 


	3. Chapter 2 Eldritch Encounters

Disclaimers:  
Nope, in the last few days, I havn't aquired the copyright to Weiss Kreuz, so they still don't belong to me.  
The fic is still rated R, nothing's changed... except for the pairings (after reading an amazing fic "Why Angels need to die" or something along those lines, I realized that this story will have my fav wk pairings, and will be more Schwarz-centric. oh, and i've also decided to drop Japanese words... what can I say, sometimes it just sounds better.  
  
"Japanese speech"  
'Irish Gaelic Speech'  
English Speech  
/Thoughts, telepathy/  
  
Apotheosis  
Chapter Two: Eldritch Encounters  
  
The next day in the business sector of downtown Tokyo, Bradley Crawford was sitting at his desk, going through paperwork. After the fall of Estet, Crawford started his own bodyguard business in order to "rent out" the talents of Schwarz. But all of his customers knew that that was just a front, an illusion of normalacy. They knew what Crawford and his team really were: assassins. They also knew that Crawford would destroy them even before they had a chance to think of betraying him. That, and the dark underworld would always need competent assassins to clean up little "discretions".  
Paperwork sorted and meticulously organised, Crawford began typing up reports for his clients. His fingers poised over the keys, he paused, frowning. With a slightly bafffled expression on his face, he removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Something was wrong.  
Opening his mind to all of the posibilities (1) Crawford tried to induce a vision. But nothing revealing happened. All that he saw was a brief flash of Nagi, and another one of that man from the airport, Ailín. Deciding to trust his instincts over the seemingly innocent vivion, Crawford slightly lowered his shields.  
/Schuldig./  
A moment later, there was a response. /Ja, Crawfish?/  
Ignoring Schuldig's favorite "pet name" for him, Crawford replied. /Where is Nagi?/  
/He went out to the library with a friend to work on his summer homework. Someone really has to tell those teachers that vacation is time for play (2)./  
/Schuldig, fing him. I have a feeling that something is going to happen to him and it somehow involves Ailín./  
/Ailín, that model guy? Why don't you have a vision to verify? Save me some time./  
/I tired that, but I'm getting some sort of interfearence./  
Schuldig sent a snicker accross their link, and said in a sing-song voice, /Someone's getting defective!/  
/Schuldig./  
At Crawford's warning tone, Schuldig sighed melodramatically and searched for Nagi through his telepathic link. /Found him, he's about a ten minute walk away from the apartment. Want me to give him a message?/  
/Tell him to go back to the apartment./  
/Can do, fearless leader./  
  
Not to far away from Crawford's office, the boy in question suddenly sneezed.(3)  
"Are you okay, Nagi-kun?"  
Nagi looked to his companion and nodded. "Somebody was probably just talking about me, Omi-kun."  
"Ah, okay."  
Thay walked along in silence for a couple of minutes. Realizing that the silence is unusual for his bubbly and outgoing companion, Nagi looked closly at Omi. "Omi-kun, is there something wrong?"  
"Ah, no... not exactly."  
"Is it a mission?" Omi nodded. "Is it a mission concerning Schwarz?"  
Taking the sliightly miserable expression as confirmation, Nagi continued. "You don't have to tell me about it, and it probably is not that big of a deal. Schwarz always fights with Weiss, and until something changes, nothing will change the outcome."  
Omi's expression worsened, and he whispered out, "But something might change and..."  
Nagi held up a hand, "Would you mind pausing for a second?" At Omi's nod, Nagi took care of that annoying twitch in his mind.  
/What is it, Schulding?/  
/Something's gotten Crawford's panties in a bunch.../  
/Are you sure it wasn't you?/  
/I'm going to assume that was an innocent comment and that I only annoy ol' Braddy. Anyways, he wants you to come home right away./  
/May I ask why?/  
/Something about a defective vision? You and that model guy./  
/Okay, I'm heading home anyways./  
/Auf Wierdersehen./  
/Good bye./  
Looking to the patieently waiting Omi, Nagi apologized, "I'm sorry, but Crawford wants me home, right away."  
Omi panicked sllightly, "Does he know about us? Our meetings?"  
Nagi shrugged, "No. Even if he did, he wouldn't care as long as I don't jeopardize any missions."  
Omi grinned, "Lucky. If Aya found out, he would probably try to SHI-NE me, and they others wouldn't take it well, either."  
Nagi shrugged, "It's not as if they have to approve of it." Looking at his watch, Nagi then smiled softly at Omi. "I'd better get going now, or else Schu will tell Crawford that I didn't come home right away."  
"Bye."  
"Bye."  
  
Further up the street, a confused and lost looking toursit was wandering the street and occasionally glancing at the map he held in his gloved hands. The tourist was wearing a backwards baseball hat and dark sunglasses, an oversized t-shirt with a long sleved shirt on underneath, baggy skater pants with twin dangling chins, chunky skater shoes and what looked like fingerless bike gloves on his hands.  
Sighing, he pulled down his sunglasses to reveal mismatched eyes, one green and one blue and looked skywards. He didn't stand there for long before he was jostled forward by a passing pedestrian.  
/Great. I've been in Japan for one full day and I've managed to get myself fully lost. Not only that, I also managed to lose my cell phone so I can't even call Silver for a ride. This tourist thing really sucks... /  
Walking forwards, he saw two teenagers who seemed to be just a little yonger than he was. Bolstering his courage, Ailín was going to commit the most atrocious sin known to men everywhere: He was going to ask those kids for directions. Faltering slightly, he watched the more approchable-looking blonde turn around and leave the smaller kid behind. Ailín cursed. The other blonde was walking further away from him whereas the brunette was walking towards him. Knowing that this was his only chance, especially since all the "business suits" were acting as if he didn't exist, Ailín began weaving his way through the crowded sidewalk towards the strange feeling kid.  
  
Heavy in thought, Nagi began walking towards home without paying much attention. It didn't really matter because he was walked this route so many times that his feet knew which turns to take, and his telekinesis kept the path clear for him. As he was walking he mused about why Crawford wanted him home.  
Nagi frowned, /Crawford better not have called be home because he saw me with Omi. He has to understand that I cannot be Prodigy all the time, I also require Nagi-time. And how I want to spend my Nagi-time, Crawford should have no say in it. And if I want to spend my few precious hours of Nagi-time with Omi, then Crawford had better learn to deal with that./  
Startled from his musings ...er, rantings, Nagi heard a car horn blare. Turning his head to the left, he saw a speeding car mere feet away from him. At the sight, he tensed up and closed his eyes, and waited for the impact.  
  
Nagi felt himself being enveloped in a pair of slim arms, which then spun him around and away from the car's path. He felt, more than heard the muffled sound of the car hitting his saviour, and the force of the impact flung them both forwards. There was a cry of pain and the sound of the car's screeching brakes.  
Nagi opened his eyes to find himself looking through a veil of fiery red hair. /Schuldig?/  
/What is it chibi?/  
/You're not with me./ It was a statement, not a question.  
/Nein... I'm at the apartment. Where are you?/  
/Lying in the street.../  
/Scheisse! Crawford'll be here soon and we'll.../  
/I'm not hurt.../ Hearing the muffled groans of his benefactor, he elaborated. /But the one who saved me is./  
Feeling the hair shift and slide across his body, Nagi tensed slightly as he watched the man push himself up off of him and up onto his hands, the man's body hovering protectively above him, and long hair curtaining him away from all the bystanders. Nagi looked up into a pair of mismatched eyes, the left one blue and the right one green. Nagi breathed out, "Ay-kun."  
Looking down at the boy he knew was going to get splattered by a car, and instinctively saving him (how can he ask road kill directions?), Ailín frowned when the boy called him Ay-kun. His Japanese not being the greatest, Ailín wondered if the boy was insulting him. Maybe he was suicidal and wanted to get splattered...  
Rolling himself off of the boy, Ailín sat and tilted his head back, his beautiful face marred by pain. Although the movement caused him great pain, Ailín considered himself lucky. It wasn't the pain from broken bones, but heavy bruising. He will be healed in a couple of days, instead of a couple of months. Tilting his head towards the boy, he opened an eye at the boy. The kid was sitting up, which was good, and seemed to be in no pain... lucky brat.  
Nagi looked into the green eye. This man who Crawford saw saved his life. For some reason, he knew he would have died, but he didn't know how he knew. Watching Ay-kun subtely look him over for injuries, Nagi felt guilty and ashamed. He could see that Ay-kun was favoring his injured right side, the side that must've been hit by the car. He, who joined an assassin team because the world abandoned him was saved by a total stranger... Well, not exactly a stranger because Ay-kun was idolized for his modelling and budding singing career... and he could have lost everything when he pulled him from the path of that car. Realizing that people were talking about him and to him, he broke himself from that hypnotic gaze.  
Turning towards the man who was driving the car and who was now profusely apolagising to him but shooting glances towards Ailín, Nagi shakily stood up, causing the tendrils of Ay-kun's hair to reluctantly let go of him. With the loss of contact from the hair strands, Nagi felt something vanish that he wasn't even aware of in the first place.  
As the kid was talking to the man in Japanese far too fast for Ailín to follow, his gaze drifted to the growing crowd. Frowning, he could make out "Ay-kun" but everything else was a verbal blur. Cursing, he realized that the magority of the crowd was composed of girls and they were all pointing and squealing at him. After losing his hat in the accident, he also lost the ability to blend in. There aren't too many foreigners with fiery-red hair acompanied by a three inch white streak on their right side.  
/Hn... It's best to get out of here and fast before they mob me. 'Cause that'll only make my side worse./  
Ailín slowly struggled to his left foot, and when he set his right foot on the ground, he gasped and stumbled forwards, and sorta fell on Nagi. Nagi wrapped his arms around Ay-kun to steady him and when his hand brushed Ailín's right hip, Ailín hissed through his teeth.  
Daijoubou ka?  
Ailín blinked... the kid said something to him... /Oh, he asked if I'm okay.../  
Replying, Ailín murmured, "Y-yes... I will be..." /eventually/  
"You need medical attention! My home is not far from here, and I should have the stuff you need."  
Filing that odd statement about medical equipment away for future inspection, Ailín nodded his head. "Yeah... I think that would be best. Get out of the public eye."  
Nagi looked to the crowd of ever-increasing fangirls. Only his telekinesis was keeping them at bay. When the man who hit Ailín offered to drive them, Nagi acceptd his offer. There was no way Ailín would be able to walk to his apartment  
  
Nagi with his arms wrapped awkwardly around Ailín, careful of the injured right side, helped Ailín hobbled from the elevator and down the hallway towards the door to the Schwarz apartment. When they were standing in front of the doorway, it opened to reveal a calm looking Crawford and a smirking Schuldig behind him.  
Tilting his head back, Ailín looked up at the two men. They both were oviously not Japanese, and by their body language, the two seemed to be very familiar with each other. He waited to know something, anything, else about them, but nothing came. Hissing as a fresh wave of searing pain raced up his right side, Ailín assumed his emotions, pain in particular, was interfearing with his knowingness. If he wanted to know anything about these men, he would have to resort to plan B.  
The orange haired man spoke first. "Naggles, when you were told to come straight home, we meant alone."  
Ailín glanced from the oranged haired one to the silent brunette. /We? Ah, they must be living together and Nagi is.../  
Ailín straightened up, and carefully keping all his weight balanced on his left leg, he stuck out his gloved hand to the bespectacled brunette. "Hi, it's nice to meet you and your partner..."  
/Partner? Does he know about us?/ Schuldig sent across the link.  
"... and it's nothing to be embarassed about. Where I was growing up, a boy in my village had two moms and..."  
Crawford asked amused, /Village?/ and then confused, /Two moms?/  
"...and it's how amazing how advanced Japan is. Letting an obviously foreign, homosexual couple adopt a Japanese boy (4). Why, in the States, the only children homosexuals are "allowed" to have are biological ones..."  
Crawford choked out, /HOMOSEXUAL COUPLE???!!!!!/  
Nagi sniggered softly and Schulding burst out into laughter. Crawford had a funny choked look on his face. Taking the look as embarassement, which it was but wrongly intrepreting the reasons behind it, he tried to comfort the black haired man. "It's nothing to be aembarassed about. Having somebody who cares for you is a beautiful thing."  
Schuldig twinded his arms around the still funny looking Crawford, pressing his body up against Crawford's and nuzzled his face into his neck. Looking up Schuldig smirked, "Ja, Crawford. I am a beautiful thing... for caring about you..."  
Ailín looked at the two men. The taller one was faintly frowning at the shorter one, and after a minute, the German's lips twitched before blossoming into a full out smirk. The German let go of his companion, and squeezed around him to stand in front to talk to Ailín. The German also made sure to press as much of his body as possible up against te black haired man.  
Grasping Ailín's still outstreched hand, he shook it. He left it go, and as Ailín's exposed fingertips trailed across his palm, a strange look passed over his face and he looked closer at Ailín. Visibly shrugging off whatever was bothering him, he spoke.  
"You must be Nagi's little saviour."  
Nagi frowned at Schuldig, /Stay out of my head./  
Someting dangerous flickered in Ay's eyes at the flippant comment about his less-than-impressive height.  
Ignoring them both, Schuldig gestered to the now empty doorway. "My name is Schuldig and if you come inside, Crawfish will take a look at your leg."  
/Crawfish? The man's name is Crawfish?/ Ailín thought as Nagi helped him into the room. Schuldig's smirky grin seemed to widen for no apparent reason. Hobbling into the kitchen, Nagi set Ailín down on one of the barstools that were lined up against the kitchen "window"/serving side board. Nagi stood off to the side and Schuldig sprawled out in a sofa-chair that seemed out of place in the dining area.  
"Soooooo, do you make it a habit to save inattentive little boys from getting run over by cars?"  
"Schuldig!" Nagi hissed out, obviously embarassed at the statement.  
Ailín taking it all in stride, flipantly replied, "Only when I'm not out saving the world from the clutches of e-vil." Although said jokingly, Schuldig looked thoughtful. It seemed like their guest wasn't totally joking.  
Smirking to hide his slight discomfort, Schuldig announced in a lazy tone, "I like you."  
Ailín nodded, "Most people do."  
Smirk becoming more menacing, Schuldig challenged Ailín. "It's a good thing that I like you. Do you know what happens to people I don't like?"  
/Schuldig! What are you doing?!!/  
/Just playing, chibi./  
Thinking of an appropriate answer, Ailín's head tilted slightly, causing his hair to fall and ripple around him. Smiling serenly, and looking as if all he needed was some blowing cherry blossoms to be the innocent bishonen in a shonen-ai manga, Ailín answered. "Well... other than being deprived of your shining presence...?"  
Schuldig preened at that comment. "You, sir, have good taste."  
Ailín grinned, eyes dancing. "Yeah, I know."  
Schuldig laughed and rolled his eyes. "Modest too."  
"Yup, that's me. Modest to a T."  
Deciding to interrupt the two orange-haired men before this got out of hand, Nagi asked, "Ay-kun, is there anything I can get for you?"  
Ailín shrugged, then winced. "Some painkillers would be good. Oh, and can I borrow your phone? I lost mine and I'll need someone to pick me up."  
Nagi walked away to get the required items, and Schuldig smirked. "How did you lose your cell phone?"  
Ailín winked at Schuldig. "You'd be suprised at how easy it is to lose things when fleeing from ravenous fan-girls."  
Smirk widening, Schu asked, "You ran away from girls?"  
Ailín grinned, "More like a strategic retreat. What can I say, I just have that sort of effect on women... Hey, do you know why he keeps calling me Ay-kun? That's not my name..."  
Nagi walked in with a bottle of tylenol and a glass of water. "Ay- kun is just a nickname that some fan coined for you and it just kinda stuck. I hope you don't mind."  
Ailín rose his eyebrows in an imitation of a shrug. Taking off his right glovelet and swallowing two pills dry, he answered. "Not at all... better nickname than some others I've aquired... I was just wondering what it meant."  
"It doesn't have a meaning. It's just the first syllable of your name with the appropriate honorific attached." Ailín watched as Crawfish walked into the room and set a first aid kit on the dining table. Schuldig snickered and Ailín raised an eyebrow at him, a silent question as to what he found so funny.  
"My name is Crawford..." emphasing the name, he looked towards Schuldig who was innocently playing with his hair, "...and I must appreciate my deepest thanks for saving Nagi." He held out his hand. Ailín shook it with his bare right hand.  
Pursing his lips ever so slightly, he thought, /Odd. Even with full contact, I feel nothing from him. My knowingness is silent. (5)/  
Smiling to cover his confusion, Ailín replied. "No thanks is necessary. You should be thanking Luck who was fortunate enough to smile on us today."  
"Yeah, it sure was lucky that you were hit by that car instead of Nagi." Schuldig remarked, smirking.  
/Schuldig./ Crawford warned them.  
Slightly rolling his eyes, Ailín offered, "Sure, why not." Realizing someting, Ailín gasped out, "Oh! How rude of me, I didn't introduce myself..."  
/Ch'. Even if he wasn't famous, what's the use of introducing oneself to a precog and a telepath?/  
"... my name is Ailín Aodhan."  
"Noble fire."  
Ailín turned towards the voice, asking 'Are you Irish as well?' and stared at the man who spoke. He had white spiky hair, a black eyepatch covering his left eye the other one hooded and golden. And he had scars criss-crossing his plae skin.  
Totally unconcerned and unafraid towards the man (6), Ailín blinked and pointed his index finger at him, palm up. "Why are you wearing a straight jacket?"  
  
Seeing the Farf walk to the end of the hallway, he asked him in a amused tone, /Hey, physco. Why aren't you locked away in your nice, little padded room?/  
Watching the man speak his name, Farf translated out loud. "Noble fire." This one, who looked like a smaller version of the Guilty One, except with only one green eye instead of two, was supposed to be the one who was going to burn a path of destruction through Tokyo. Watching the man turn and speak in their native tongue, Farfarello remained impassive as the musical voice danced from his lips.  
/Farfarello, what are you doing out?/  
Ignoring Crawford, Farfarello watched the chibi-Schuldig openly stare at him, and was slighlty suprised and amused that the man didn't have enough common sense to fear him, the Berserker of Schwarz.  
/That kid does not look like me!/  
/ Schuldig, that is not important. Farf, why are you out here? You know you should be in your room./  
Farf lazily blinked, /I smelled blood and pain. The chibi-Schuldig is injured./  
Crawford replied, /He was injured helping Nagi. You will not threaten him./  
Their mental communication was disturbed when Ailín asked Farf about his choice of clothing. Farf padded into the room and sat in a chair across from Ailín, his golden eye not leaving Ay's face.  
Ailín shrugged, totally unconcerned under Farf's eerie stare. "It's pretty cool, I like it. Especially the way the sleeves and buckles are dangling loose as if you just escaped from it."  
Nagi coughed at that overly preceptive comment and Schuldig just laughed, unconcerned. The only one looking at chibi-Schu's eyes, Farf saw the serious and knowing gleam in them. Although said lightly, he was serious about the comment. Folding his arms, he rested his chin in them to continue watching the Noble One. This one proved intriguing. Hiding behind the pretty exterior, this man was very perceptive and took in everything around him. If not careful, he may even catch Schwarz in his destructive blaze.  
  
Crawford pulled some bandages and bruise ointment from the first aid kit and walked towards Ailín. "Take off your clothes and I will dress your injury."  
Farf noticed that the Noble One (7) and the Guilty One both raised their eyebrows at the same time. Although the comment lurked in the Noble One's eyes, the Guilty One actually voiced it. "Crawfish! Talking like that to an under-aged kid makes you a pedophile! And in front of the chibi, no less!" Schuldig made a "tsk-ing" sound as he shook his head, eyes closed."  
"Ahh, Schuldig-kun... I'm twenty..."  
Startled out of his mockery, Schu made a choking noise and then leaned over his knees having a coughing fit.  
The American's lips twitched at his, whether at Ailín's use of the wrong honorific or by Schuldig's reaction to his statement. /Serves you right./  
Schuldig looked up at Crawford, and peered through the strands of his mussed hair. "Shut. Up."  
Turning back to the Noble One, Farf watched as the man shed his overly baggy clothes to reveal a lithe, toned body (8). Although slightly pale, the man was aestically pleasing, even with the small torso with longish arms and even longer legs. Seeing the blackish-blue bruise that went from the indent of his side down to the middle of his thigh, Farfarello's lips twitched. The constrast was even more apparent with the man's white Calvin briefs. His golden eye narrowed. Where his left hip bone lightly jutted out above his breifs, there seemed to be a burn-scar half covered by the elastic of the underwear.  
Schuldig hissed when he saw the bruise, and he felt a strong wave of guilt from Nagi. /Good thing he was there, chibi. That's what he got from only being grazed from the car. From what I gathered, the car would have hit you full on./  
Crawford crouched down to better see Ailín's black and blue right side, and was about to put ointment on the leg. /Do you have any idea of how erotic you look right now?/  
/Schuldig./  
/No, I'm serious. The way his body is all tense and his fists clenching, if you moved your head to the left by about six inches, it would look as if it came out of some gay porn./  
Crawford's hands stilled in the application of the ointment to the worse of the bruising as Schuldig sent him a telepathic image of what he saw. Unfortunately, Schuldig was right. His body hid the bruising and Ailín looked flawless. Muscles tense and straining from the pain, eyes scrunched shut and pressing his lips togehter, Ailín looked good. Even the way his fiery hair fell, the strands floating around him, caressing his hands.  
"Are you done with the ointment?" A slightly pained voice asked out.  
Crawford looked up at Ailín. He was looking down, his eyes were opening and shimmering softly from unshead tears and his lips were parted slightly waiting for an answer. His tilted head caused a few strands of hair to tumble forward around his shoulder, and fell to brush at Crawford's own hair. The man was gorgeous.  
"Yes, all I have to do is apply the bandage."  
Ailín nodded causing the hair strands to bob on his head. Wrapping the bandage, Ailín hissed, and Crawford could smell blood. Glancing at the bare fisted hand with the white knuckles, he surmised the the nails on that hand periced through the skin.  
Picking up on his chain of thought, Schuldig commented, /Strange, how he easily shed his outer clothes, but didn't take off that left glove./  
/Hn./  
Quiet up until know, still feeling guilty over causing Ailín to be so badly injured, Nagi supplied. /On all the websites I visited after being told about our possible involvement with him, they all commented on how he always wears gloves. And even in the pictures without gloves, advertisements and whatnot, you never see his left palm./  
Schuldig rolled his eyes, /Bah! Sounds like a coincidence. Why would people want to see his left palm anyways? Why pose like that? ...Although I can think of a few good, other poses that he should do.../  
/Hentai!/  
Idly listening to the mental arguing, Farf looked at the Noble Fire's clenched left hand. Just like all his other actions, there is a hidden reason for that left glove. And he was determined to find out what it was.  
With Crawford finished the bandaging of his left leg and hip, Ailín put his baggy shorts and t-shirt back on, and tied the sleeves of the long sleeved around his waist. Schuldig complained mentally at the loss of the pretty body to look at. When Ailín limped out of the room to call for a ride, Schuldig pouted  
Looking at Crawford, he grumbled. "You should have told him to take off all of his clothes. Would've been a better view."  
"Schuldig! Don't be perverted!"  
Schuldig shrugged, then smirked. "Now I see why he's so popular with the females, and a select bunch of males."  
Nagi hid his slight blush at that suggestive comment. But, Schuldig was right. Ailín was easy to look at.  
Coming back into the room, Ailín announced that his ride would be there in five minutes. Hobble/limping to the door, Ailín slid into his shoes. Followed by Nagi and Schuldig, Ailín nodded at Schuldig, "Thank you for your hospitality. Ant you..." Ailín looked at Nagi, "...watch out for cars.  
Schuldig sniggered as Nagi helped Ailín down to the elevators and waited with him for his ride. And when Nagi arrived back at the apartment, Schuldig played the messenger for Crawford. Telling Ngai that they had to go out and save Ichida's wrinkly ass from Weiss. Seeing the Noble One's forgotten glovelet, Farfarello picked it up and hid the small glove under his straight jacket.  
  
The four assassins of Weiss climed out of the Seven and looked at Omi. Flipping open his laptop, he quiclky hacked into the warehouse's security system. System disabled, Omi closed the laptop and turned to his companions.  
"Remember. We have to collect any information that may lead to the wherebouts of the missing people and kill Ichida."  
Caressing the hilt of his katana, Aya murmured, "He's mine." Aya- chan could have easily been one of those missing persons stolen for Ichida's slave/prostitution ring.  
Omi gave the other assassins a few more instructions, then they all ran off to gain access into the builing, and activatd their communicators while doing so.  
/Oi, Crawfish. The Weiss kitties are here./  
Lookind out the window and to where Schuldig was lying in wait on the floor of the warehouse, Crawford said aloud to Ichida. "The assassins are here."  
Ichida looked to Crawford, "Take care of them."  
"Yes, sir."  
/Pretentious bastard.../  
/Schuldig./  
/Ordering us around? Telling us how to do our jobs? Ch' ...I almost want Weiss to triumph, only to see the look on that asshole's face just before he dies./  
"Crawford. I am going to my office to retrieve something I have forgotten."  
Crawford turned to Ichida, "Would you like me to accompany you?"  
"That wilil not be necessary."  
Idly listening to Schuldig's running commentary of the less-than- perfect nature of their employer, how the fight with Weiss was proceeding, and all the reasons for why Ailín did not look like him, Crawford glanced down at his watch.  
/Five minutes./  
/What does five minutes have to do with my hair having better body than.../  
/It doesn't. It has been five minutes since Ichida went to his office to retrieve something./  
/Maybe the imbecile got lost?/ Schuldig looked at the scene in front of him. Weiss was easily held back just by Farf and the chibi. Catching Siberian's bugnuks with two knives, Farf forcefully threw him back several feet. Farf turned his golden eye on Schuldig, "There's one more."  
/Hey, Crawfie. I hate to break it to you, but Farf says there's one more./  
/Assassin? But Weiss is occupied by Prodigy and Berserker./  
/Maybe another kitten joined the litter? ...Nope. Farf just told me it was a fox, not a kitten./  
/So the assassin does not work for Kritiker./  
/New assassin, huh? Why didn't you get a vision about it?/  
/I'm going to find him./ Crawford failed to mention that something was causing his visions to be less accurate and more elusive. Checking all the other offices on his floor and finding them empty, Crawford asked Schuldig to find Ichida.  
/He's down here in the room Weiss is trying to get to. And there is someone with him. But someting is garbling my telepathy, so I can't read their thoughts./  
Shoes clicking on the metal stairs that descended to the second level of the warehouse, Crawford replied, /Ignore Weiss and get to Ichida./  
Looking at Crawford, Schuldig sighed mentally, then whined, /But playing with Weiss is all the fun I get!/ Turning to his teammates, and not caring if Weiss heard, he called out, "Farfarello, Nagi! We have to save Ichida from the fox."  
Farafrello tapped his knife against his lips, "Hurting the Noble Fox will hurt God." Sucking on his knife tip, he muttered, "But hurting the Noble Fox will stop his destructive blaze... and I want to see it burn..."   
"Whatever. Nagi, do something with them." Schuldig demanded, flicking his fingers at Weiss. Nagi pushed them back with his telepathy and followed after Schuldig, down the halls to where the receiving offices were kept. At the entrance, Crawford and Frafarello moved aside so Nagi could open up the impressive oaken doors with his telepathy.  
"OI!!! Don't turn your backs on us and then WALK AWAY!!!" an insulted Yohji yelled, his wire singing as it was pulled out as he ran. Looking into the room, he skidded to a stop, only to have Ken run smack right into him.  
"Balinese! Why'dya stop?!"  
Abyssinian and Bombay carefully walked up to Yohji and Ken, looking at what caused Yohji to stop.  
"How many assassins does this city have !?!"  
Ignoring the playboy, Schwarz was looking at the kid who had Ichida pinned by his gun. The assassin, startled by Yohji's exclamation, turned his head to look at the eight men broken up into two groups of four, standing in the doorway and hallway.  
Seeing the kid distracted, Ichida lunged at him, reaching for the gun. Almost as if he saw it coming, the kid's head whipped back to Ichida and he slid out of reach. Ichida managed to grasp the headband hiding the kid's hair, and stumbling forward, he pulled it off the kid's head. Keeping his gun pinned on Ichida, the kid spun as Ichida fell. Making his floor length duster whirl out and the the movement causing the unfastened buckles to jingling softly; his hair untwisting from it's knot and cascading around him, the long white streak obscuring his vision as it fell in front of his right eye.  
Recognised by his unusual hair, Nagi cried out, "Ay-kun!"  
Ailín looked up and cursed.  
  
Author's Ramblings:  
1) Once again, my lack of knowlegde is evident in my inability to describe how Crawford gets his visions. So, he'll actively pursue his visions the same way Ailín does.  
2) This line "...vacation is time for play" was a part of a line spoken by Tsukino Usagi to Mizuno Ami in episode 20 of Sailor Moon ("Vacation is time for play, so play!")... I just thought it would be very funny to have Shuldig partially quote a girl who is his polar opposite.

3)When ever somebody is being talked about in anime, that person sneezes... so, if Schu and Crawfie are talking about Nagi via telepathy, shouldn't he still sneeze?

4) I Love this part. "A swing and a miss" is what comes to mind when Ailín is presented with a situation when his thédóir doesn't work. He's used it all his life and when he's deprived of it, he can't even do little things. Like "read" why two foreigners are living with an underage foreign kid.  
5) Just showing more insight into Ailín's Talent. Although he is able to glean information concerning anything (thoughts, feelings, etc.) from a person, it works better/stronger/more precise when touch is used. The comment about his knowingness being quiet shows that his "thought/touch- induced sensitivity" doesn't work against Schu's and Crawford's sheilds.  
6) No, Ailín isn't dumb enough not to fear Farfie, it's just that he knows he could easily beat Farfie with his fire. And therefore doesn't see Farf as that big of a threat.  
7) Ailín means noble, so Farf calls him the Noble One. (Just like Schuldig means guilty, and calls him the guilty one.)  
8)No, Ailín is not perverted or an exhibitionist. When somebody models, there's usually not a lot of privacy. Being used to that Ailín isn't hesitant to undress it in front of Schwarz. And although he is good looking, he is "less aware" of it than Yohji is.

Just some extra notes. Ailín's hair is basically the same color as Schu's except there are red highlights and the white streak on the right ride (except his is flow-y and cascade-y whereas Schu's is a little wild, Schu's hair reminds me of 80s hair). And he is mistaken as being younger because of his lean build and his huge mismatched eyes (make him seem cuter). Just picture a slightly taller Omi (a couple inches, or so) with hip length orange-red, white streaked hair. Big eyes, one blue one green, but with a girl's lashes, on a facial structure more resembling Ken's... hopefully that helped, but I'll eventually have pics posted on deviant art...  
  
Oh, and if it's possible, please R&R. Even though I'm gonna write this sucker 'till it's finished, I just want to know if anyone is actually reading it, liking it, etc.


	4. Chapter 3 Bitter Prophecy

Disclaimers: Nothing new... If you really want to read about how I don't own Weiss, then re-read a previous disclaimer. I still haven't cemented the pairings yet, so yeah...

There is an insinuated/implied rape scene, but I don't get graphic... sorry...

Oh, for all of those who cared why I haven't updated in about, oh, 4 months, computers frickin' hate me. They really do.

(blah) – the other end of (Silver Fox) Ailín's communicator.

_blah_ - English

"blah" - Japanese

'blah' – Gaelic

/blah/ - telepathy, thoughts

APOTHEOSIS:

Chapter Three: Bitter Prophecy

Humming the "Lucky" song by Brittany Spears, and clicking and sliding his tongue barbell across and between his teeth, Ailín slowly approached the warehouse under the cover of night. Motorcycle abandoned four blocks away in a well-lit hotel parking lot; Ailín walked the remaining distance. A block away from the warehouse and down near the docks, Ailín clipped the ear microphone into place, and turned it on.

Murmuring softly, "Red Fox, stage on."

A voice replied in his earpiece, (Silver Fox, stage is set.)

"All right." Ailín turned down the headset; he didn't need the noise from the home base interfering on this mission. Looking at the warehouse, Ailín muttered, "Nobility, Honor, Justice; these before all else." When a large formation of clouds slid across the night sky, Ailín slunk across the darkened street and slipped undetected into the building.

Easily padding through the vast building through the use of his knowingness, Ailín found himself outside the secondary servant door for the receiving office. Face twitching in disgust at the though of the types of goods Ichida usually received, Ailín crouched down before the door. Pulling two tools from one of the many pockets lining the underside of his sleeveless, long jacket, Ailín quickly used then to unlock the door.

Once in the room, Ailín shut the door and relocked it. Turning the volume of his ear-set back up, he said softly, "Red Fox, stage is lit and ready for the show. I'm in the receiving office, and I know the information is in here."

Ailín first went through a thorough search of the office, pocketing paperwork, file photos and other incriminating evidence. Although useful, it was not what this specific client wanted. "I found some useful info, but not what I came here for... I'll have to do a search of the hard drive."

(Hmm. Get anything that shows who supports Ichida, who uses his services, where he gets...)

Ailín cut him off. "I already have all that, what I'm missing is information on Maryssa. She's mainly the reason why I'm here."

(Right. Be quick and careful. Apparently Ichida and his bodyguards have returned to the building. I'll let you know if there's any other movement. Keep the headset on.)

"Right." Sitting down in front of the computer, Ailín was annoyed. His knowingness should have been working. Hell, it was working, so why didn't he know that Ichida and his goons returned? Shrugging those thoughts off to mull over later, Ailín turned on the computer system, and slowly and methodically began searching for any information on the missing girl.

Ailín rubbed his eyes, doing computer searching without his knowingness to help, was very painful and hard.

(Red Fox.)

Ailín blinked, "Yeah?"

(Somebody hacked into the security systems and four more people entered the building.)

"Visual?"

(Yes, but no one you will recognize. I'll send it over.)

Pulling down the goggles from where they were perched at the top of his head, Ailín looked at the pictures flashing on the screen that was the right lens. /Hmm... They must be around my age. /Seeing the redhead's sword, Ailín grinned, /Definitely assassins. Well, they can have Ichida when I'm done with him./

(Red Fox, status on the new four. They have engaged three out of four of Ichida's bodyguards.)

Ailín frowned, and dropped his goggles to hang from around his neck by their strap. "Silver Fox, where is Ichida and the fourth bodyguard?/

(The bodyguard is still in his original position, and Ichida is...)

The side door was unlocked; then opened. With a flick of a switch, harsh white light filled the room, momentarily blinding Ailín. Blinking his eyes, he remarked, "Ichida is with me." Ailín stood up and let his presence be known to Ichida, "May as well get the info straight from the horses' mouth. Red Fox, out."

00000

"Who are you?!" Ichida demanded.

Ailín grinned, causing dimples to appear, "Well... My name really shouldn't concern you..." Ailín walked out from behind the desk, "... what you should be concerned about is the location of Maryssa Kensington."

"Mah-ree-sah Ken-siin-tonne? Sounds like a foreigner. Why should I be concerned about her?"

Ailín's grinned widened. "Maybe because it was your slave/prostitution ring that kidnapped her...?"

Ichida sneered. "Why should I care about one girl?"

Ailín shrugged, then whipped out his gun and pointed it at Ichida's head. Tilting his head to the side, he grinned, "Bee-cause, her father can afford to hire me to find her; that, and the gun." Ailín pursed his lips, "The gun mostly."

00000

"How many assassins does this city have!?!"

Ailín looked towards the main door and cursed. Standing seven feet in front of him, and two feet behind his target was the kid he saved that afternoon from being splattered by a car, and his unusual family. His knowingness had been acting up that afternoon and the entire time he was here, ...he'd have to look into that later. But Ailín didn't need to know why there were here. He could read it from their hardening expressions; they were here to stop him, at all costs.

Seeing something move out of the corner of his eye, Ailín whipped his head back to Ichida to see him lunging for his gun. Ailín stepped aside and spun as he watched Ichida fall forward to the floor at the feet of his bodyguards. When his "albino-lock" fell in front of his right eye, Ailín blew at it to try to move it.

"Ay-kun!"

Ailín looked up and cursed.

Not only did the kid, Nagi, recognize him, that Crawford guy was pointing a gun at him. /Great. This is going well.../

(Red Fox, the assassins are moving...)

"Yeah... That would have been helpful a couple of minutes ago. How long is the delay on the surveillance systems?"

(Thirty seconds.)

"You may want to look into fixing that..."

00000

"Are you done, or should we give you a few more minutes?"

Ailín looked at the smirking Schuldig, and raised his eyebrows. "You know, if you wanted to be polite, then you really shouldn't use that snarky tone."

Schuldig sneered. "I wasn't trying to be polite."

"Yeah... politeness is one of the first qualities lost with inbreeding..."

Schuldig spluttered in indignation, while Silver Fox admonished Ailín over the com link. Sighing, Ailín tucked the white strand behind his ear, and whipped out a second gun; pointing one at Crawford, the other kept on Ichida.

"Moving on, you," Ailín indicated Crawford, "...get back. And you," Ailín indicated Ichida, "where is Maryssa?"

Ichida starting making demands at Crawford and Ailín, while still sprawled on the floor; causing Ailín to raise one eyebrow. Ailín cocked the trigger on his gun and shot Ichida's knee. Ichida screamed.

Pulling back the trigger again, Ailín pointed the gun at Ichida's other knee. "I asked you a question. Where. Is. Maryssa?"

Ichida began wailing and babbling in too fast Japanese, making it very hard to understand. Rolling his eyes, he shot Ichida's other knee. When Crawford moved slightly, Ailín raised his brow, "Ye-ah, I highly advise against that."

Looking down at the moaning and bleeding Ichida, Ailín sighed, "If you don't be quiet, I will shoot you. If you don't tell me where Maryssa is, in understandable Japanese, I will shoot you."

Ichida blubbered out, "She's in Yokohama, with Tatsuyo!"

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Yo, SF, didja get that?"

(Yokohama, Tatsuyo. I'm sending agents now.)

"Thanks. I'll let Kensington know." Ailín tucked his revolver back into his jacket, and keeping the automatic on Crawford, he awkwardly managed to turn on the two-way communicator at his wrist, and began speaking into it.

_Mr. Kensington, we now have the location for Maryssa. _

_Is she all right, is she... _

_It's too early to tell. _

_Is Ichida there? _

_Ye-e-s... _

_I want to see him. _

_Umm... that's highly frowned upon... _

_Do you think I care?_ Ailín raised an eyebrow. I_ pay you for results, not for opinions. _

_O-kay... I'll activate the live video feed._ Ailín pressed on of the buttons on his goggles, activating the camera.

_I want him dead. _

_Mr. Kensington, I really advise against that. _

_This bastard destroyed my family's life when he stole Maryssa. I want him dead and anyone who helped him take Maryssa. _

_Umm... I'm not really... _

_You will take care of him. _

Ailín rubbed at the bridge of his nose, _It doesn't work like... _

_No. This is your job, and it will be done. It would not be honorable if you did not. _

Ailín rolled his eyes, and sighed. _Fine. Whatever._ Taking the automatic off Crawford, Ailín pointed it at Ichida, and pulled the trigger. Ichida's body slumped lifelessly backwards.

_Happy now? _

_I will be happy when Maryssa is returned to me. _

_Right, right._

00000

Ailín looked at the now employer-less bodyguards, and the four assassins hovering near the door. Seeing the incredulous looks on their faces, he shrugged. "It's not like he wasn't going to get killed tonight. I just... sped things up a little..."

"You were hit by a car five hours ago."

Ailín looked at the slightly ruffled looking Nagi. "Yes, and four hours ago I had about 200 cc's of Morphine pumped into me."

"That's enough to kill a person."

Ailín shrugged at Crawford, "And yet, here I am, lucid and not dead."

Schuldig sneered, "Not dead, but for how long?"

"Well, if you're trying to imply that you're going to kill me, you are highly mistaken. As a matter of fact, seeing how my job is now done, I am leaving. Buh-bye."

"You won't get through us. Stop him, Naggles."

"Naggles?" Ailín asked. Shaking his head, "Whatever. Either way, I wasn't planning on using the door."

"Then how are you going to leave?" Nagi had to ask.

Ailín looked at the window. Shooting the glass out, he walked towards it.

"You can't be serious."

"He is serious, maybe it's the Morphine?" Nagi glanced at Schuldig, then back at Ailín. He was standing on the windowsill.

He waggled his fingers at the ex-bodyguards. "Once again, buh-bye." And Ailín fell upper body first out the window.

"Ack! There's no buh-bye in suicide!" Nagi rushed towards the window, to find Schuldig there already, watching Ailín fall to his death on the pavement below... Or, to flip 180 degrees and almost float down to the ground, left leg extended, to land on the ground. When his right foot touched down, he hopped around on his left foot, "Ow ow ow!"

00000

Watching this all, Yohji turned to Ken. "I think they forgot about us. I don't know whether to feel insulted that we were forgotten, or happy that the mission was finished without us having to do much."

Ken thought for a couple seconds, "If we're done, that means we can go home."

Yohji perked up. "Yay, going clubbing. Bye."

Before Aya could snap at Yohji, and before Yohji could accidentally abandon them there, Omi and Ken herded both Aya and Yohji out to the Seven.

00000

Passing the small electronic device in front of the red button, it beeped and turned green, unlocking the front doors. Pulling the door open, Ailín limped in to the apartment lobby and up to the elevators. Pressing the up bottom, the doors pinged open. After the doors shut, Ailín opened a hidden panel and swiped the same electronic device in front of it. The panel blinked several times and made a slight noise. Closing the panel, Ailín leaned back against the walls of the elevator as it made its slow descent up to the lavish penthouse on the top floor.

The doors opened to reveal a short hallway, ten feet in length, with a single door at the end. Limping to the door, Ailín raised a key and unlocked a hidden panel under the peephole. He placed his hand on the scanner, letting it scan his fingerprints and then leaned forwards so the retinal scan could do its job. Once finished, the highly advanced security systems determined that he really did belong there, and the locks on the door were deactivated and the security system disarmed.

Walking inside, he was gifted with a gorgeous view of Tokyo at night through the twelve-foot high glass windows that made up this penthouse. Ignoring it, however, Ailín tossed his mission gear down on the leather couch and began stripping out of his mission clothes on the way to the shower, the clothing leaving a trail after him. Standing under the shower's stream of water, Ailín closed his eyes and tilted back his head. Letting the water pour over him and cleanse him, he allowed his mind to water.

Startled back to this plane by the loud ringing of his phone, Ailín turned off the water and walked naked and dripping out of the bathroom and into the main living room. Answering the phone, he asked in a tired voice, "'Yello?"

'Did anyone ever tell you you need to work on your phone manners?'

Ailín sighed and looked at his ghostly reflection that hovered along the Tokyo skyline. Sighing, and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Ailín answered, 'As a matter of fact, my manners are impeccable. ...When I choose to use them.'

'You know, it's that kind of attitude that prevents people from assuming who you truly are.'

Sighing softly and walking towards his reflection, he raised his free hand, and ran it down his reflection's face. Fisting his hand, he turned away from the glass and himself. 'That's what I want. I lost that part of myself a long time ago.'

'No matter how you may wish it, you cannot lose who or what you are. You can ignore it, but not forever.'

Smiling softly and wistfully, Ailín murmured, 'But I can try.'

'You may try, but will never succeed. I won't let you.'

'And for that I am thankful.'

There was a short pause on the other end of the line, and then the speaker sighed. 'Ailín, I tried calling you all night. Do I even want to know what it was that you were doing?'

'Seras, I'm positive that you would not like to know...'

'Hnn... The word back here is that a certain Lord Kensington hired a certain little red fox to find his daughter. I wonder if you have anything to do with that?'

Scowling at the sound of Kensington's name, Ailín growled out, 'That Bastard! How could he...'

'He did not let anything slip.'

'Then, how is... how did...'

'Methinks your little organization has a leak... '

'Apparently. But, thank you. For looking out for me.'

Seras laughed, 'Just repaying the debt I owe you.'

Ailín rolled his eyes, 'Please, that was years ago. Consider it repaid.'

'Hn. You helped me when I needed it most, but I failed you at your greatest moment of need. It takes a long time to repay something like that.'

At the heavy silence on the other end, Seras panicked slightly, 'Ailín, I...'

'I'm fine, just thinking...'

'About the past?'

'The past, the future, what I'm going to do right now about this leak...'

'The leak is not as bad as I made it seem. I added the part about the little red fox. And I only know because you told me, sort of.'

'No matter how small, a leak can grow to devastating proportions. This needs to be dealt with, but for the how... I don't know.'

'Pad softly, little fox. This information made it's way here from the States. This could be bigger than what you can handle.'

'I rather doubt that. I handled having my family murdered, first in front of my eyes, and then when my back was turned. I am positive that I can deal with a few traitors, I will cut them down like I do anything else that dares to stand before me.'

'Arrogant.'

'Nobility, Honor, Justice: These before all else.'

'Ailín, a word of caution; not everyone shares your ideals.'

'Yes, that is why it is my job to prevent their cancerous attitude from spreading. Nice talking to you Seras. May the fields always be green...'

'...And the sun always at your back. Be careful.'

00000

Hanging up the phone, Ailín padded naked back towards his bathroom. Grabbing the robe hanging on the door, he wrapped it around himself and walked towards his office. Turning on the desk lamp, he opened the lid of his laptop and started up the system. Accessing the folders that held his night job, he doubled clicked on one folder that read reports. Opening the folder, he began typing up the events that occurred that night.

00000

At a relatively seeded club across town, Yohji was enjoying himself, basically "slutting-it-up" on the dance floor. Dressed in tight, black leather low-rise pants that showed off hid well-defined abs and a shimmery dark blue shirt that revealed more than it concealed, Yohji was happy. This is a lot more fun than strangling the dark demons.

Grinding and swaying to the music, Yohji surveyed the crowd, choosing a partner for the activities later that night. Spotting a very possible possibility, Yohji began weaving his way towards her when he felt strong arms circle his waist and pull him up against a well-muscled male body.

/Mmmm... I could go uke tonight.../

Raising his arms behind his head, he wrapped them around his partners' neck and began dancing with him. Losing himself in the music, Yohji practically began purring when the other man began nipping and biting at _that_ spot at the base of his neck.

Closing his eyes in pleasure, Yohji turned around in his partner's arms and whispered in his ear, "Let's get out of here. I know a place that's not too far away..."

/Do you, Kudoh?/

Yohji's eyes snapped open, and he tried to pull away from Schuldig but was trapped by the evil Schwarz's arms.

/Ouch, Kudoh. That's a little harsh... my arms aren't evil.../

Yohji hissed, "What do you want, Schwarz?"

Schuldig smirked at the little kitten trapped in his arms. /We-e-ell... I was going to just enjoy myself tonight, seeing how my contract was abruptly terminated. But then, a little kitten practically threw himself at me and.../

"THAT'S A LIE!"

Schuldig smirked further, /Indoor voice, Kudoh. Or do you want to attract attention?/

Kudoh glanced around at the club, if he kept this up, he would attract attention. The bad kind of attention.

/Very good, Kudoh. Now, what was that about a place not too far from here?/

Yohji sputtered in his outrage. Hissing out in a low voice, "Not with you, Schwarz! ...And get _out_ of my head!"

"Aww... Kudoh, you're no fun... Now, how am I supposed to entertain my self now?"

Kudoh narrowed his eyes, shifting his hands slightly he was about to pull out his wire when Schuldig stopped him. In a bored tone, Schu remarked, "I wouldn't do that if I were you... Starting a fight in here, with all these innocent bystanders... Somebody might get hurt."

"What do you want, Schuldig?"

The German smiled evilly, "Oh, I think you know."

Yohji swallowed nervously, "And why should I?"

Schuldig shrugged, "Well, you don't have to play with me... Not when there's a room full of people for me to play with."

"You sadistic bast..."

Schuldig shrugged and interrupted him, "Yeah, yeah. Schuldig, the evil sadistic bastard who loves to play with all the little humans... I get it. So, will it be you, or them?"

Shaking with barely suppressed anger and disgust at the man in front of him, Yohji ground out, "You knew the answer to that before you walked in here."

Laughing at the Weiss kitty, Schuldig murmured, "I'm not the precog, Crawford is. Now, I believe you mentioned something about a place not too far from here?"

Glaring into the mocking blue eyes, Yohji snarled out, "Follow me."

00000

Yohji led Schuldig out of the club and down a deserted street, when he passed the light circle under a street lamp; he spun around on Schuldig with the whine of his wire accompanying him.

Rolling his eyes at the stupidity of the blond katschen in front of him, Schuldig sighed and flitted out of the way. Moving and dancing away from the lethal wires, it didn't take him long to get the blonde tangled up in it.

Schuldig couldn't help but snicker at the sorry and sexy sight. Here was the garrote-wielding assassin of the white hunters tangled up in his own weapon, much like a kitten tangled up in a ball of yarn. Ironic, really.

Stalking towards his prey and slowly circling around the mentally cursing Balinese, Schuldig smirked. "Aren't you supposed to catch you enemy in the wires?"

Yohji cursing became vocal.

"Tsk, tsk, Kudoh. You really should learn better language. Although, the picture you present is rather... sexy."

Yohji just glowered at the orange-haired bastard. Carefully tugging at the wires, he tried to free himself or at least cut the wires from his watch, but he was trapped. If the rest of Weiss saw him now...

He felt arms slide around him from behind causing him to tense up. Whispering hotly into his ear, Schuldig purred, "What would they think?"

Sliding one hand down to flutter across the exposed abdomen and one hand moved up to dance across Yohji's chest and then disappeared only to cup Yohji's face.

"Would this be hot enough to cause the little brat to forget about his computer?"

Schuldig's left hand slipped lower to fiddle with the button and the fly at the crotch of his pants. "Would this be hot enough to make the soccer-punk to forget about his little fixation with the model-assassin?"

Schuldig slid his hand into Yohji's open pants to caress the flesh there. "Would this be hot enough to melt that little ice prince's frosty shell?"

Yohji stood perfectly still, eyes closed, wishing himself out of this current predicament. Rubbing up against Yohji's back, pressing his erection into Yohji's tight ass, Schuldig sighed out with heavy-lidded eyes, "Wishing won't get you anywhere Kudoh. You led me here, knowing that this place is deserted. Too bad, what I have planned for you isn't what you intended this place for." And Schuldig squeezed the flesh in his hand.

Yohji's eyes snapped open and he gasped out, "This is rape."

"Yeah, and?"

Yohji practically choked, "Don't you get it? Don't you have any humanity left?"

At Schuldig's lack of an answer, he continued, "This, all of your evil, it will catch up with you one day. And will be visited back on you tenfold!"

Amused at the katschen, Schuldig purred, "Really?"

"And your punishment will reflect the nature of your crimes!"

"Could you be a little more specific as to which ones?"

"All your crimes will eventually cause the destruction of the one person destined for you."

Schuldig laughed, "Kudoh, Kudoh, Kudoh..." Quickly moving his right hand, he yanked Yohji back by his honey blonde hair, causing the two assassins to look each other in the eyes. "I am more likely to kill my "destined" by my own hand, than admit that I have feelings for him."

Looking Schuldig in the eyes, Yohji said softly, "If you believe that, then I pity you."

Schuldig laughed evilly, "Oh really? Will you still pity me once I'm done with you?"

00000

Across town, Ailín's hands were frozen over his keyboard and there was a slight grimace of pain on his face. Slowly moving a slightly shaking hand, he rubbed at his chest. Murmuring softly to the empty apartment, "It's as if my heart suddenly constricted in pain."

Rising up, he slowly staggered away from the computer and flopped down on the leather couch in the living room. Still rubbing at his chest, he bent forward and leaned his arms on his knees. Sighing, he flopped backwards onto the couch and grumbled, "I'm in perfect health and am too young for a heart attack..."

Glancing to his left, he sighed again. Looking at the mission gear, he mustn't forget to check it over then put it away. Slowly rising to his feet, he grumbled about getting old and padded to the kitchen. Taking a bottle down from a cupboard shelf, he popped the top and dry swallowed two pills. Replacing the Advil bottle, he padded back towards his office still rubbing at that sore spot above his heart.

00000

How did you like the new and improved version of chap 3? Is it easier to read now? And for those who care, chapter four is coming along slowly... possibly because I'm more into Oceans Apart right now, especially since it's a hell of a lot shorter... So, why don't you go read what I have for that right now? It will also be updated faster than Apo because the chapters are half as long... But I'll definitely spend some quality time typing out Apo this weekend with my lovely notes to help me! Wish me luck!


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